AniMat's Reviews - The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
AniMat's Reviews - The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is the 67th episode of AniMat's Reviews and the 2nd episode of Season 2015. In the episode, AniMat reviews the Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Movies film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (Based from the T.V series created by Stephen Hillenburg). He gives it a favorable review, and scoring it with a 8/10 Transcript I Remember back when I was a kid, I was a HUGE SpongeBob Fan! Always watching it whenever it airs on T.V, buy the DVDs, often watching the original 2004 film, and even got an opportunity to see voice actors Live, reading an episode. It was up, until around the 4th or 5th season, I suddenly lost interest. Because the show kinda lost it's touch, due to it's creator: Stephen Hillenburg, quitting the show after the first movie. But I still hold fun memories to those good old episodes to this day. Heck, I even made this painting of SpongeBob's neighborhood in college. But now that SpongeBob and the gang are back on the big screen, will the movie make me feel right back at home in Bikini Bottom, or is the franchise all dried up at this point? Let's find out. The Story You will be surprised, over the amount of things happening in this 90 minute film (Trust me, the trailer doesn't even show a Fraction, of what the story is about). This movie will go All Over the Place! Taking elements from a heist, sci-fi, post-apocalypse, a buddy-comedy, time travel, entering a new world, action, super heroes... It tries to put in so many elements, But somehow it manage to put it off well. With all these things, the movie tells it more "observed" and "Off the Wall" comedic-tone, and that's whats works in the Story. It keeps the spirit of the original show, and it helps that is self-aware that everything going on is just pure crazy. So the Humor is definitely one of the strong points here. That, and it does offer a nicely handled message of "Team Work," So it does have a good heart like SpongeBob himself. But I will say that it could be possible, that some people would feel put-off by it's humor, over how completely random these scenarios are. Technically, not really a flaw, but just a little warning, that some of the nautical nonsense has been put in the max here. Squidward: '''Seriously. Aren't you over reacting a bit? '''then in the background, everything is on fire and everyone's wearing apocalypse clothing Mr. Krabs: Welcome to the apocalypse Mr. Squidward. I hope you like leather... However...If there is one problem to know, regarding the story's itself, it's that everything happening here, has already been done in earlier SpongeBob moments. If your a big SpongeBob fan (like me), you may notice which plot elements that's already been made in a certain SpongeBob episode. Like the villain, stealing the Krabby Patty formula, and leaving bikini bottoms in ruins was already done in the first SpongeBob movie. SpongeBob forming a friendship with Plankton and singing a song about It, was already done in F.U.N. The main characters going to the live action surface was done in Pressure. And the whole gang turning to (Avengers Style) super heroes was done in Mermaid-Man & Barnacle-Boy 5 I'm Not saying that it makes it imminently predictable... It just feel like "Unoriginal" writing. But even with that, it doesn't stop the fact that the story is still "engaging and funny" none the less. The Animation It's funny how after all these years, the animation still looks the same as last time I saw SpongeBob. It still holds on to the same style, that it has on the show. So the biggest downside here, is that the quality is sub-part compare to the other animated features release now in days. On the other hand though, I bet they'll be a lot of people who will feel happy to see 2-D Animation back in theaters. But as a film based directly from a T.V show, It really does deliver something that feels like you can't get anywhere else. Considering that all the different elements here I mention before, It manages to delivered them in a way that is "fast-paste, colorful, and always interesting to watch." So a part of what makes the film engaging, does comes from the Animation. Not only that, but it also incorporates other animation mediums, and it makes them feel like they would fit in a movie like this, like many of the computer special effects, or even one character that is all stop-motion. But I'm sure the one thing that you all want to know about, is regarding the "computer animation" when the characters come to the surface. Well surprisingly enough, there really isn't a lot as much the movie advertised. SpongeBob and the gang wouldn't come out to the surface until the the "3rd" Act! In reality, there're lot more animation then live action, then your regular hybrid movies like Alvin and the Chipmunks. But anyways, when the characters become computer animated, they actually look fantastic! It keeps the same look in animation in their 2-D forms, but also gives them a lot of details, to make them bend in beautifully with the real world. Squidward: Look at me! I'm ah God! Then the villain threw a plastic can rings, on to Squidward's Nose. Squidward continued: '''What is this, diabolical thing! (Grunts) And this is not to mention that the action scenes (when they are super heroes) are both intense and a lot of fun. It may have some "T.V quality", but the animation is still very strong thanks to its creativity. '''The Characters For any SpongeBob fan, what is the most important factors, is to see how these characters will return to the big screen, and it's really is nice to know that they haven't changed a bit. You got: SpongeBob himself who is a good hearted and lovable goofball, who wants to set things right, Patrick as his dumb best friend, Squidward is his pretentious neighbor, Sandy as his smarter friend, Mr. Krabs as his money loving boss, and Plankton as Krab's arch-enemy who always plots to steal the Krabby patty secret formula. What's even better, is that some of them will even go thought an interesting character development. We can see how SpongeBob can have his limitation, Plankton learns more about team work, as the movie would progress, and it's really funny to see how the other characters become Crazy Savages! Desperate for Krabby patties, when Bikini Bottom become a post-apocalyptic world But what I applaud this movie for, is that it actually reintroduces SpongeBob, and the town of Bikini Bottom in a way that's pretty clever! It feels much more welcome to new audiences, and this something that a lot of movies based directly on T.V shows, tend to forget to add on. And then there's the villain of the film: Burger-Beard, who in concept, sounds interesting, and would actually pass as an antagonist in SpongeBob. But in execution, he just feels a little too goofy and doesn't seem to pass as a threat as much as Plankton in the first movie. This is a bit due to both the writing and Antonio Banderas performance, so his only issue, is that he'd could have been handled better. Mr. Krabs: What are you doing with me "formuler?" (formula in pirate talk) Burger-Beard (Antonio Banderas): '''You mean... '''then his pirate ship suddenly became a restaurant Burger-Beard (Antonio Banderas) continued: Me formula!! and a bunch of cannons popped out of the front of his ship ''' '''then a Splat from Squidward: '''It happen's when I'm nervous; As for the rest, there's really isn't much to say about them. Any other character here, serves little purpose to the plot, or they're just background characters. Sure there're will be a few cameos, but don't expect too much There has never been a better feeling, then to see some old friends like these characters once again... '''Final Thoughts Scene from Pickles: '''H-H-Hey SpongeBob's back. ' That could probably be the best way to say it. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water may not be perfect with some recycled plot elements, random scenarios, and some T.V quality 2-D animation, But it's truly is an enjoyable movie, with an engaging story, highly creative animation, and great humor with the characters we all know and love. If you even been a SpongeBob Fan either in the past or present, then This is definitely a Must Watch! I even recommended this for those who don't watch the show, since it also works as a stand alone movie. The only people who should't go watch this, are those that HATE SpongeBob, because... well at the end of the day, this is still SpongeBob (Before the credits, AniMat has a little something to say about other hybrid movies) Now I would like to address again that this is pass more as an animated film despite having a few live action bits, so this wouldn't be considered a hybrid movie. It's a lot like the first film still have live action bits, yet we still considered it an animated feature. What I'm trying to say is that if anybody is wondering that because I looked at this, I'm going to review live action/computer animated hybrids, like Alvin and the Smurfs my answer is: '''No!' Story: 7/10 Animation: 8/10 ''' '''Characters: 9/10 Overall: 8/10 Category:AniMat's Reviews Category:AniMat's Reviews episodes Category:Episodes